More than half of the world’s billionaires tumbled last year. Some of these sob stories are downright painful. And the economy is only partly to blame.

In what may be the world record for biggest fortune lost, the Japanese investor dropped $77 billion in two years, as the value of his Softbank holdings fell 98%. Reasons: bursting of Internet bubble, questionable investment in bankrupt Nippon Credit Bank (now Aozora Bank) and delays in broadband deployment. After racking up $3 billion in debt, Softbank is now selling assets.

Talk about a tough year: “Fired” by retiring AOL Time Warner boss Gerald Levin; divorced from Jane Fonda; criticized for impolitic comments about “bravery” of Sept. 11 terrorists. Even the market for his bison soured. But AOL Time Warner’s largest individual shareholder has yet more reason to scream: AOL stock fell nearly 60% in value, slicing $5 billion from his worth. With Levin gone and Turner back in, expect the “Mouth of the South” to make more noise if things don’t improve.

Turned parents’ small clothing store into Fast Retailing, Japan’s answer to the Gap. Despite cheers from customers for bringing affordable clothes to the overpriced Japanese market, his retail empire is unraveling. In January it announced that profits would dip 23%. Result: Yanai’s net worth fell from $4.8 billion to $1 billion.

Gary Winnick
$500 million Rank: dropout

“Getting rich at the speed of light” was the headline for a 1999 FORBES cover story on Winnick after the former Drexel Burnham executive turned a $15 million investment in undersea-cable operator Global Crossing into $4.5 billion in 18 months. But weak demand for broadband and overcapacity in fiber dropped Global back to earth. Filed for bankruptcy in January and now faces scrutiny of its accounting. Original stake today worth only $8 million, but Winnick did manage to sell more than $600 million worth of shares before the crash. Investors wish they had, too.

The Frenchman bought Christie’s, the once-genteel auction house, in 1998. The company’s been dogged by a price-fixing scandal ever since. Worse, the stock of his retail empire, which includes stakes in chic department-store chain Printemps and couturier Gucci, fell almost 50%. Now one of the year’s worst fashion victims is worth half of what he was.

Argentina

Thanks to the largest sovereign debt default ever, a currency crisis and five presidents in two weeks, three of the country’s four billionaires dropped from our list, including Amalia Lacroze de Fortabat, president of the nation’s largest cement company. Only survivor: oil and gas tycoon “Don Gregorio” Perez Companc.